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The first came from a Chinese mother who expressed hope that the 62-year-old St. Catharines man who struck and killed her 20-year-old daughter while driving drunk, just half a block from the courtroom, can find remorse for his actions.

“I hope you can have a remorseful heart and think about what you did wrong,” Xiurong Si said through a Mandarin interpreter.

The second plea came from the man behind the wheel on Sept. 18, 2011 who struck Jiao Shi Qi, a 20-year-old Columbia International College student, while she crossed Main Street East near Catharine Street.

“I realize that I have killed a young person who was about to start out on her life, I have damaged her family and I realize that they are never going to get over the loss of their young daughter.

“For this I apologize. I realize that these words are inadequate and will never make up for what I have done and I ask for your forgiveness, although I understand if you are not able to give me this,” Epifani read from a prepared statement.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Jane Milanetti ordered the grey-haired Epifani remanded out of court for the preparation of a pre-sentence report. He will return Nov. 22 to be sentenced.

Prosecutor Giulia Gambacorta said outside of court the Crown will seek a penitentiary term for Epifani, who has no previous record.

Defence counsel Jaime Stephenson said she will argue for a jail sentence of two to three years for her client, who had nearly three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system when the woman was struck.

Stephenson told court her client has no recollection of the incident.

In a disturbing aside, while Shi Qi lay dead in the middle of the road, police allege a 29-year-old man walked up and stole her purse. Less than a day later a $113 charge at a Bell Mobility store showed up on the victim’s credit card.

Jason Trotter faces charges of fraudulently using a credit card, two counts of theft under $5,000 and two counts of possession of stolen goods under $5,000.

Gambacorta, reading from an agreed statement of facts, said after Epifani struck Shi Qi at about 2:44 a.m. he continued eastbound on Main East without attempting to stop. The vehicle continued eastbound on Queenston Road through red traffic lights before parking and entering a Britannia Avenue home, where he was subsequently arrested.

The victim’s mother, who flew in from China for the plea, held a framed photograph of her daughter sporting a pink wig as she spoke about her from the witness stand.

“She was our hope. She was our everything. This is going to be our wound for the rest of our life. Even though the courts will give out a harsh punishment our daughter cannot come back,” Si read from her victim impact statement.